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Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Book Review : Devilish by Maureen Johsnon

Synopsis : The only thing that makes St. Teresa's Preparatory School for Girls bearable for Jane is her best friend Ally. But when Ally changes into a whole different person literally overnight the fall of their senior year, Jane's suddenly alone—and very confused.

Turns out, Ally has sold her soul in exchange for popularity—to a devil masquerading as a sophomore at St. Teresa's! Now it's up to Jane to put it all on the line to save her friend from this ponytail-wearing, cupcakenibbling demon . . . without losing her own soul in the process. . .

I became a fan of Maureen Johnson ever since she made this video to teen writers asking her how to get published.
I'd never read one of her books before, so when I saw Devilish in the library I grabbed it. Judging by Johnson's eccentric Twitter feed I expected a kind of quirky, offbeat novel and that is exactly what I got. Devilish is a modern version of the classic Faustian tale of what it means to sell your soul for the devil.

The main character, Jane Jarvis, is somewhat of a feminist and extremely school smart causing her to stick out like a sore thumb at her all girl Catholic high school where her best friend is the less than perfect Allison. I liked Jane as a character and thought she was endearing.

At first I found her writing style to be similar to Meg Cabot , but the tones are very different. Johnson's writing is much more cluttered, with a splash of wit.

I felt like many of the characters didn't get a chance to fully develop and aside from Jane and Allison no one pulls their full weight in the story. The book slowed down for a bit and then picked up towards the end and comes to a harrowing end.

I have to give this novel some credit, because it is a paranormal story and predates the current paranormal trend. This novel was published in 2006 and in sime sense, Johnson was kind of the head of the game.

I may read her more popular series, Little Blue Envelopes and Suite Scarlett, but I am really jonesing for The Name of The Star.

3 comments
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Isn't Maureen Johnson friends with Libba Bray? I love Libba Bray, but I'd forgotten that I wanted to check out Johnson's books too--and from your review, sounds like there may be a lot of similarities. Thanks for the reminder to check her out!--In case you're wondering, I'm a random surfer from nablopomo--

OMG this one sounds soooo cool! I haven't read anything by Maureen Johnson but I really want too. The fact that it's funny and has a good ending is very appealing but I'm not a big fan of books with random pacing. Thanks for the fabulous review :)

I haven't read any of her books yet - Name of the Star is on my shelf right now and begging for me to open it up! The summary of this sounds interesting though! I might have to pick it up sometime! :) Great review!